NYC gun buyback program is announced -- an idea championed by Staten Island Councilman Ignizio

View full sizeThe NYPD Tweeted this photo of a handgun collected at the Staten Island gun buy-back event earlier this year. NYPD

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- City Council
Speaker Christine Quinn announced the launch a $300,000 citywide gun buy-back program
Sunday -- an idea that began with Councilman Vincent Ignizio.

The Council
and the NYPD will each kick in $150,000 in funding for 10 gun buy-back programs
to be held in the coming months.

Ignizio, who didn't attend the Sunday press
conference but who was credited by the Speaker's office as "championing" the
idea, said several years back, District Attorney Dan Donovan asked him to
allocate some funds for a North Shore gun buy-back. Ignizio agreed, saying he
saw the potential for getting a gun off the streets in Tompkinsville helping his
side of the Island, too.

"It's a gun that's not being used in
Tottenville," he said.

So when Police Commissioner Ray Kelly
testified before the City Council recently, Ignizio had a question for him: "Can
we join together with the Council to do a citywide buy-back to take thousands
of guns off the street in one fell swoop?"

Kelly liked the idea -- and so did
Ms. Quinn when he brought it to her the same day, Ignizio said.

Ignizio, who is "pro-legal-guns," said buy-backs are a way to get rid of illegal ones -- or ones that may
have been left behind by a deceased spouse or family member, or are unwanted -- and
could fall into the wrong hands.

"We'll get thousands of illegal guns off
the street in New York City," he said.

And, he said, it makes sense to put the
money in the budget for programs citywide, so district attorneys like Donovan
don't have to make the request he did of Ignizio - though he thinks discretionary funding should still be available for such programs.

Ms. Quinn said keeping the public safe
is one of government's "most fundamental responsibilities."

"Every single life lost to the hands of
a criminal with a gun is a tragedy. Through this series of gun buy-backs, we
can prevent the violence that devastates families and entire communities," Ms.
Quinn said. "We must protect the city we love, and with our gun buy-back
program, we're not just taking guns back -- we're also taking back our city's
streets."
In a statement, Police Commissioner Ray Kelly mentioned two detectives slain on
Staten Island in the course of keeping guns off the street.

"New York City police officers take
thousands of the guns off the street through proactive policing, often at risk
to their own lives, as demonstrated so tragically with the assassinations of
Detectives Rodney Andrews and James Nemorin," Kelly said.

"However we've also used gun buy-back
programs with clergy throughout the city in which individuals can surrender
guns, no questions asked," Kelly continued. "The district attorneys from each
of the five boroughs have collaborated with us to provide matching forfeiture
funds to help underwrite the payment of $200 for each handgun surrendered in
our buy-back programs, which began five years ago this summer."

Ignizio said he was grateful Kelly and Ms. Quinn supported the measure.

The Council and NYPD will work together
to determine where buy-backs will be held, basing their decision on things like
shooting incidents, homicides, firearms arrest and gun trafficking patterns.

The events will be held in houses of
worship, which can volunteer to be a buy-back location, and which the NYPD will
determine suitable for weapons to be surrendered and rendered safe.

The program will offer a $200 bank card
for operable handguns and assault rifles, and a $20 bank card for rifles and
shotguns.

A slew of Council members from across the five
boroughs joined Speaker Quinn for her City Hall announcement Sunday.